application refused - please help!

[mroowka]

Hi everyone. I've received a letter today with very bad news. I am a polish citizen living and working in england since 08/2006.I graduated from uni last year. I applied for British citizenship in June and today got a letter saying that my application was refused as I did not have permanent resident card. I don't get that! As far as I know rules changed in November and now people can apply for residency card after 5 years but before everyone who was here longer than 12 months was automatically granted permanent residency. I thing they are robbers! Im shocked and angry. over 1000£ going to be lost. Please help. I can appeal but that obviously going to cost . Who i can talk to to sort this out? Please help
Ilona

[CR001]

You cannot appeal a refused citizenship application. You can only ask for a reconsideration, which costs £80 and take many months.

Did you hold comprehensive sickness insurance for the full time that you were a student? Were you a full time or part time student? Were you employed or self employed?

before everyone who was here longer than 12 months was automatically granted permanent residency

This is incorrect. It is and has been 5 years of being a qualified person before permanent residency is attained, not 12 months.

[ilona]

You cannot appeal a refused citizenship application. You can only ask for a reconsideration, which costs £80 and take many months.

Did you hold comprehensive sickness insurance for the full time that you were a student? Were you a full time or part time student? Were you employed or self employed?

before everyone who was here longer than 12 months was automatically granted permanent residency

This is incorrect. It is and has been 5 years of being a qualified person before permanent residency is attained, not 12 months.

I was a full time student. In the first two years I worked 4 days a week (I was doing Foundation Degree). In the 3rd year (top-up) I worked only 3 days a week however was still class as a full time employee (unpaid leave 2 days a week). I didnt need the comprehensive sickness insurance as I still worked and was paying the national insurance.

[jeff.lebowski]

got a letter saying that my application was refused as I did not have permanent resident card.

Can you quote exact wording from the letter from Home Office? I do not believe they can refuse an application from June on grounds that it was not supported by PR card if this requirement came into force only in November 2015.

[ilona]

"as you have not been exercising your treaty rights for a continuous period of 5 years you do not meet the requirement which are set out on our website and your application has been refused"
How is this possible if I have lived in the UK since 2006 and worked since 2008. Plus the permanent residence card was not required when I applied for my naturalisation in June 2015.

[jeff.lebowski]

"as you have not been exercising your treaty rights for a continuous period of 5 years you do not meet the requirement which are set out on our website and your application has been refused"
How is this possible if I have lived in the UK since 2006 and worked since 2008. Plus the permanent residence card was not required when I applied for my naturalisation in June 2015.

I'll say it again. No mention of PR card. It was not an issue here. They refused on grounds of not exercising treaty rights for continuous period of 5 years (effectively you need to prove 6 years if no PR card). It has to do with your employment / studies. You need to discuss your case with immigration solicitor so he can advise if it is worth asking for reconsideration.

[noajthan]

"as you have not been exercising your treaty rights for a continuous period of 5 years you do not meet the requirement which are set out on our website and your application has been refused"
How is this possible if I have lived in the UK since 2006 and worked since 2008. Plus the permanent residence card was not required when I applied for my naturalisation in June 2015.

There may be 2 aspects to this:

1) Poland is an A8 country & Polish ciizens were subject to WRS in UK.
Were you correctly registered with WRS from your date of entry & starting work in UK?

If not then your PR clock may only have started (for a worker) in 2011;
ie when WRS was officially terminated.

2) If HO considers you were a student they will be looking for evidence of CSI.

If you believe you were a worker at the time then it's a question of the balance between work & study.
You will have to convince HO that the work was not marginal & supplementary to your studies.

You can see relevant HO guidance (including how HO assesses whether someone is a worker) here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... s_v3_0.pdf
- see page 11+

On the other hand, if operating as a student did you have a RC issued to you at the time as a student?
If so there was a transitional arrangement in place (regarding need for CSI) that may save you.

Finally, did you hold a Polish EHIC at the time you were studying? (that could be used in lieu of full CSI).

[noajthan]

The HO official will have assessed your case based on the facts & evidence presented.

In your application did you emphasis you were a 'worker' throughout?
How did you present your time as a student?

What supporting evidence of employment did you present? (eg WRS certificate, P60s & etc)

Did you, in a covering letter (for example), emphasis your application was based on having the status of a worker throughout the relevant period?

Finally, did you have any periods of unemployment since you arrived in UK?
How about any prolonged absences from UK (eg over 6 months at a time) ?

[TheMouseReturns]

What's happened to mroowka, the OP user of this thread? It gets confusing when more than 1 username is used by a person, if that's the case here.

[jeff.lebowski]

mroowka = ilona

[Ziuta]

I don't think that studying and working will have such an impact on the application. I did my uni degree while working and registered with WRS as a worker.
It could be in my case that didn't mattered as I had PR while studying.
There must be something else. I would suggest Ilona to talk to immigration solicitor. Did you apply via NCS or postal?

[ilona]

"as you have not been exercising your treaty rights for a continuous period of 5 years you do not meet the requirement which are set out on our website and your application has been refused"
How is this possible if I have lived in the UK since 2006 and worked since 2008. Plus the permanent residence card was not required when I applied for my naturalisation in June 2015.

There may be 2 aspects to this:

1) Poland is an A8 country & Polish ciizens were subject to WRS in UK.
Were you correctly registered with WRS from your date of entry & starting work in UK?

If not then your PR clock may only have started (for a worker) in 2011;
ie when WRS was officially terminated.

2) If HO considers you were a student they will be looking for evidence of CSI.

If you believe you were a worker at the time then it's a question of the balance between work & study.
You will have to convince HO that the work was not marginal & supplementary to your studies.

You can see relevant HO guidance (including how HO assesses whether someone is a worker) here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... s_v3_0.pdf
- see page 11+

On the other hand, if operating as a student did you have a RC issued to you at the time as a student?
If so there was a transitional arrangement in place (regarding need for CSI) that may save you.

Finally, did you hold a Polish EHIC at the time you were studying? (that could be used in lieu of full CSI).

Thank you for your replay.

I was registered with Home Office since I started working in 2008. I didnt have any CSI when I was a student as I was still working full time in the first two years (37h over four days - one day at uni). In the 3rd year I was working 3 days a week (30h) and 37h during half terms and summer holidays so I was continuously classed as a full time employee. I didnt apply for a permanent resident as I was automatically granted one after 5 years (I know this has changed recently and now people have to apply for a permanent resident card and hold it for 12 months before applying for British citizenship). I submitted my application in June 2015. I have an EHIC card (only because I travel to Poland at least once a year) however at the time of studying I was still paying for my national insurance.

[ilona]

"as you have not been exercising your treaty rights for a continuous period of 5 years you do not meet the requirement which are set out on our website and your application has been refused"
How is this possible if I have lived in the UK since 2006 and worked since 2008. Plus the permanent residence card was not required when I applied for my naturalisation in June 2015.

There may be 2 aspects to this:

1) Poland is an A8 country & Polish ciizens were subject to WRS in UK.
Were you correctly registered with WRS from your date of entry & starting work in UK?

If not then your PR clock may only have started (for a worker) in 2011;
ie when WRS was officially terminated.

2) If HO considers you were a student they will be looking for evidence of CSI.

If you believe you were a worker at the time then it's a question of the balance between work & study.
You will have to convince HO that the work was not marginal & supplementary to your studies.

You can see relevant HO guidance (including how HO assesses whether someone is a worker) here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... s_v3_0.pdf
- see page 11+

On the other hand, if operating as a student did you have a RC issued to you at the time as a student?
If so there was a transitional arrangement in place (regarding need for CSI) that may save you.

Finally, did you hold a Polish EHIC at the time you were studying? (that could be used in lieu of full CSI).

Thank you for your replay.

I was registered with Home Office since I started working in 2008. I didnt have any CSI when I was a student as I was still working full time in the first two years (37h over four days - one day at uni). In the 3rd year I was working 3 days a week (30h) and 37h during half terms and summer holidays so I was continuously classed as a full time employee. I didnt apply for a permanent resident as I was automatically granted one after 5 years (I know this has changed recently and now people have to apply for a permanent resident card and hold it for 12 months before applying for British citizenship). I submitted my application in June 2015. I have an EHIC card (only because I travel to Poland at least once a year) however at the time of studying I was still paying for my national insurance.

In addition I was doing my foundation degree in the first two years of my study and to do so you are required to work in the field of your study.

[ilona]

[quote="jeff.lebows

sorry mroowka is my boyfriend

[CR001]

sorry mroowka is my boyfriend

Well mroowka has now been banned as multiple usernames is not permitted.

[jeff.lebowski]

Hi Ilona,

What's the update? Have you applied for reconsideration?